


What If We Didn't Care

by cheeseeteevee



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Kissing, Locker Room, Love, Studying, Stydia, Stydia Week, i hate tagging lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-02-17 18:01:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2318381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheeseeteevee/pseuds/cheeseeteevee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles and Lydia spend a lot of time together. With time spent come confessions. What if they cared about nothing? But it's Stiles and Lydia and it's not long before their feelings for each other come out in the open.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What If We Didn't Care

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I've been working on that I finally polished for Stydia week! It's cheesy like everything I seem to write these days but I just have too many Stydia feels to handle!!!!!!!!

It was a typical Tuesday evening. Well, as typical as it could get for the teenagers of Beacon Hills. Lydia was with Stiles, trying to figure out what to do to defeat the latest in supernatural threats. The monsters of this week were Berserkers. Besides vague Wikipedia descriptions about the anger-driven warrior type characters, they were getting nowhere. Stiles was on even more edge than usual, hovering and fidgeting over her shoulder.

“Have you tried different spellings? Maybe Berserkers is derived from an older name, something different, related to anger, threat…” Stiles suggested, his voice drifting off as he racked his brain for clues.

“Stiles, we’ve been at this for hours. This is getting ridiculous. If there was anything online about the history of the name ‘Berserker’, we would have found it by now,” Lydia said, exasperated.

“I’m just trying to offer some suggestions here.” He retorted back.

“I get that. But your useless suggestions and incessant fidgeting is not getting us any closer to finding a way to get rid of these things. And we’re running out of time.”

“I know, I know. I’m just trying to help,” he said quickly, “I’m just trying to help.”

“Stiles…” Lydia responded, worried, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I just – there has to be a way, there has to be something! Something I can do, anything. Just anything.”

“Stiles, we’ll find something. We’ll figure it out, we always do. We’re the Sculder and Mully of Beacon Hills after all!” she said with a smile.

“Minus the baby,” he added with a grin.

***

After another 3 hours of getting nowhere online, Stiles and Lydia decided to call it a day. 

“Lydia, you’re falling asleep in my chair, I’m taking you home.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just so tired…” she said, her eyes drooping.

“Lydia, do you ever sleep? We’re out all the time, fighting monsters and yet you’re still top of the class, ahead on all your assignments, and you somehow manage to look fresh off the runway every morning.” He said, worried but in awe.

“Coffee,” she answered, brushing off his concern. “Seriously, I’m fine, just take me home.” 

What she didn’t tell him was that as much as she tried, she couldn’t for the life of her fall asleep at night. The names on the deadpool, the sight of Allison’s body in Scott’s arms, the shadows of the nogitsune in Stiles’ eyes, all the horror and chaos that had cursed Beacon Hills, she couldn’t let go of it. 

“All right, if you say so,” he finally said. “Let’s go.”

Since it was nearly 2 am when they left Stiles’ house, the streets were dead. There was no night life in this town, just the rustle of the trees and the nighttime breeze to keep them company.

Climbing into the blue jeep, Lydia pointed out, “There’s something eerie about Beacon Hills at night… Like some invisible spirits are patrolling the streets, leading everyone back into their homes…”

“Well it is Beacon Hills after all, I don’t think anything supernatural could surprise me at this point.”

“Crazy how our lives have changed, huh?” she said, looking up into his dull brown eyes. Dull, that’s what the nogitsune had turned them into. She didn’t notice until after, that he used to have a glint in his eyes, a spark about them.

“Yeah, 2 years ago, I would have never thought I’d be sitting in this beat-up car with the Lydia Martin,” he joked.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m serious. It just feels like we’re different people now, you know?”

“Because some of us are…” he said, without his usual joking tone.

“Stiles, that’s not what I meant. You’re still you, you’re still Stiles, regardless of what happened when you were possessed.”

“That’s the thing Lydia. It was me. It was all me. I was conscious of what I was doing. I remember what it felt like. It felt good, all the pain and violence and harm I was causing. It gave me strength.”

Lydia turned around in her seat, putting a hand on Stiles’ shoulder. Tears had escaped his eyes. “Listen to me, Stiles. None of that was your fault! The nogitsune got into your mind and forced you to do all that. You can’t blame yourself forever, I won’t let you.”

“But you should! I’m the reason Allison is dead. That Aiden is dead. That Isaac is gone. How can you forgive me? I killed your best friend and your boyfriend. You should hate me for that.”

“Stiles, I could never blame you for that. How could I? You’re one of the kindest people I know. Your heart, it’s so big. You’re more capable of love than anyone I know. You’re the one who has the most reason to leave Beacon Hills behind and never come back but you stay here, risking your life for your friends, your family,” she said. “How can I hate you for that?” she added gently, wiping the tears falling down his cheeks.

“Really?” he answered, his tone surprised.

“Duh, idiot,” she responded with a smile.

“Ouch, insulting my intelligence, I see how it is,” he laughed.

“You know I love you!”

“Love you too, Lydia.” He added, jokingly. 

“Well, I better go up,” she said, having arrived in the driveway of her house. She was a little disappointed to have arrived so soon, not ready to face another sleepless night.

“I’ll walk you up. Don’t even try arguing,” he added as she opened up her mouth in protest.

“Fine. Let’s go,” she replied.

They climbed up the stairs to her room. She didn’t even bother trying to be quiet, it’s not like her mom was ever around these days. Her mom tended to crash at the lake house most nights, what with all the repairs and restorations to be made.

When they got to her room, Lydia tossed her bag in a corner, kicked off her heels and flopped on her bed.

“Well are you just going to stand there or are you going to join me?”

“Wh-what?” Stiles spluttered, shocked at her offer.

“Stiles, this isn’t a marriage proposal, I’m just asking you to sit with me, jeez,” she said, laughing internally. What a dork this boy was sometimes.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” she added.

“It’s 2n am and we have school tomorrow,” he said blankly.

“Stiles, I know you. You’re going to go back home and sit in front of your computer all night trying to solve this berserker mess. We might as well watch a movie.”

“But you, Lydia. You need to sleep,” he responded, worry in his voice.

“I’m tired but it doesn’t mean I could sleep if I tried,” she said simply.

“The voices, they never really go away. They get louder if I’m not distracted by something,” she confessed.

“Well I guess a movie it is.” He grinned, masking the worry he felt. How long had it been since she had gotten a full night’s sleep?

They went down to the living room and chose some cheesy rom-com advertised on Netflix. It was all their brains could handle at this point in the day.

An hour later found them lounging on the couch, sharing a pot of ice cream. After a while, Lydia put her spoon down and faced Stiles.

“Hey Stiles?” she asked quietly.

“Mhmm?”

“Do you ever wonder what it would feel like? To just not care, you know? I mean, I know when you were possessed by the nogitsune, it got you to do some things but… What if we just didn’t care about people? Like if we had never gotten close enough to anyone, things might be easier…” she was worried he wouldn’t understand but this was Stiles, and he got her like no one else did.

“Yeah, I’ve thought of that a lot too. What if I had never become friends with any of you guys? What if I just closed myself off from everyone? If I didn’t care about anyone, I would never get hurt, I would never risk my life, I wouldn’t be up at night, wondering if all the people I love would make it through the next day alive. But then... I think of my dad, of Scott… Of you.” He turned to face her. God, her eyes were so beautiful. 

“Me?” she whispered.

“Yeah. I know we’ve just become friends and I’ve spent so much time admiring you from afar and as much as it would hurt to lose you and as much time as I spend worrying about your safety, being with you like this, getting to know you, well. It feels worth it. It’s like you and Allison, right? She may not have been around for long, but wasn’t her short time with us worth it?”

“When did you get so smart, Mr. Stilinski?” she smiled.

“I think the genius of the dazzling Ms. Martin is starting to rub off on me,” he answered with a grin. “But seriously Lydia, I know we struggle a lot, fighting for the lives of our friends but just know that for me at least, every moment I get to spend with you is worth the sleepless nights and hours spent online, researching, okay?”

“Thank you Stiles, I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

“Lydia, don’t ever doubt us, okay? Whenever you need me, I’m here. And never underestimate you’re abilities. You have so much more strength than you even know, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I should head home now, before my dad files a missing person report on me… Again,” he told her.

“Be safe Stiles,” she said, leading him to his car.

“I will, I’ll call you when I get home.”

***

10 minutes later, Lydia’s phone lit up.

“Hey, you get home okay?” she answered immediately.

“Yeah, I’m in one piece, no monsters out tonight,” he reassured her.

“Good, why are you whispering?”

“Because it’s currently 4 am and my dad’s passed out on the couch!” he said furiously.

“Okay, jeez calm down!”

“Good night Lydia, I’ll see you at school in a couple hours.”

***

Like all other nights of the past year, Lydia spent it staring up at the ceiling, waiting for the sun to rise and for her to face the next day. She mulled over what Stiles had said, that to be with her was worth the pain. She wasn’t ready to admit it but it was the same for her, the few moments she got with Stiles, her friends, her family. The fleeting happiness and memories, it made life worth living. 

***

The next morning, when she got into her car, her banshee powers led her to a warm spring. Why was she here? She walked down to the stream of water, steam emanating from the surface, warming her face. What was so important about this? There were no bodies to be seen and this feeling was different, it wasn’t a dead body feeling. And then it hit her, the way to get rid of the berserkers.

She ran back to the car and drove quickly back to the school. She had to find Stiles. Now. 

Stiles wasn’t answering his phone so she texted Scott.

Have you seen Stiles today?

Yeah, we just got out of morning practice, he’s probably still in the locker room.  
Is everything okay?

Yeah it’s fine, I just need to talk to him.

Okay, well he’ll be out soon.

Thanks!

But she wasn’t ready to wait, she had to get to him now. So she ran to the boy’s locker room. Thankfully, it was mostly cleared out. Apparently, Stiles was just really slow at changing. That didn’t surprise her, he was easily distracted.

She walked through the locker aisles, looking for his familiar face. She got a lot of strange looks and wolf whistles from the stragglers who were putting on their school clothes. Finally, she found him, just getting out of the shower.

Her timing really sucked. Or maybe it was wonderful because when she got to him, he was just wearing a towel wrapped around his waist. 

“Lydia!” he exclaimed. “What are you doing here?! What happened? Are you okay?”

She gulped.

“Lydia…?”

She was caught a little off guard by Stiles’ half-naked body. When did he get so lean and muscular? 

“I-I, uh…”

“Lydia? Is this another banshee thing?” 

Why was she here again? She could barely think straight, her stomach was in knots and her heart was pounding so fast she was sure everyone in that locker room could hear it. 

Right. Berskerkers. That’s why she was here. Because of her realization. Not to stare at his ab lines, the happy trail that plunged into his towel, his toned shoulders, his protruding biceps. He wasn’t large as far as muscles went but he was nicely toned.

“Lydia!” he yelled eventually.

Surprised by how loud his voice got, she was shaken back into reality.

“S-sorry,” God would he just put a shirt on. 

“What is so important that you barge into the locker room while I’m half naked for?” he exclaimed, trying to ignore the way her eyes were totally checking him out.

“The berserkers! Right!” 

“Lydia, what is with you?!”

“Sorry, okay. Um. So this morning, I had a strange banshee episode,” she started. “Don’t give me that look, you would know if I had found a dead body. Anyways, I ended up at this random warm stream of water. There was steam rising up and I realized. You know how we read that one article about how berserkers are humans in a disguise. Well, I think the steam peels of the mask, and reveals the human underneath. So if we found a way to bring the berserkers to that stream or to bring steam to them, we could peel of their masks and their human side would emerge and they would be more in control.”

“Lydia, you’re a genius!” he shouted, as he lifted her in his arms. When did he get so strong too? Lydia thought as she fought to ignore the feeling of her body pressed against his.

“Dude, let me go! You’re such a dork,” she added as he let her go, his hands lingering on her arms.

“Seriously, I love you. You’re the best. You rock.” He told her. 

Lydia couldn’t help but feel a blush spread across her cheeks. 

“Have you been working out?” she blurted. Of course he had been working out, he was on the Lacrosse team.

“Lydia, you came to find me in the locker room, what do you think?”

“Right, sorry, stupid question,” she mumbled. Get your act together Lydia, she told herself. But she really couldn’t keep her eyes off him and anyways the locker room was mostly empty by now so what was she risking by telling him the truth, “To be honest, you look kind of hot.” She told him, glad to have regained her strength. And with that, she turned on her heel and strutted out of the locker room.

Stiles stood their dumbfounded. Had Lydia just confessed a physical attraction to him or was he dreaming?

***

Later on, in English class, where Stiles and Scott always took the seats at the far back because let’s be honest, they couldn’t care any less about the subject, Scott was eyeing Scott suspiciously. 

“What?” Stiles asked him. “What’s with the sniffing?”

“Lydia. What happened? Spill,” he urged.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Scott.”

“You’re scent is all over her and her scent is all over you, so spill.”

“There is nothing to spill, now pay attention, we’re supposed to be analyzing Hamlet’s tragic flaw, not discussing my tragic love life. Not that I have a love life,” he added quickly.

Scott raised an eyebrow.

“I’m a wolf, Stiles. I can smell attraction and you two reek of it so what happened?”

“Nothing happened! She just came to the locker morning this morning to talk about Berserker stuff, that’s all.”

“Wait, she came into the locker room? She didn’t just wait for you to come out? Dude, are you blind?”

“Scott, if you don’t explain yourself when you speak, I can’t understand you so please, elaborate!”

“She’s so into you, dude! This is awesome. It only took 8 years but this is awesome! Kira’s gonna have a field day with this.”

“We are just friends Scott. A guy and a girl can be just friends, contrary to popular belief.”

“Not if that guy and girl are Lydia and Stiles, no,” he said under his breath.

“Shut up.”

“I’m just saying. All those times she’s come home with you. The way it’s always the both of you staying up all night cracking codes and solving mysteries. The fact that she was so impatient to see you, she walked straight into a smelly locker room, running the risk of finding you changing… She’s into you.” Scott explained with a huge smirk.

“Just friends!” Stiles said a little too loudly, causing Lydia, who sat a few rows ahead, to shoot him a strange look.

“Uh-huh, if that’s what helps you sleep at night, Stiles.”

***

Stiles was glad when the final school bell rang. Scott had been pestering him all day about Lydia and he was ready to go home and do nothing. Except of course, that was not going to happen. This was Beacon Hills after all, not the Hamptons. He sighed. One day this will all be over and he could maybe ask Lydia out. Except not, they were just friends. Just friends. He wasn’t going to ruin this. 

He slammed his locker door shut to find Lydia leaning right next to his.

“Hey,” she said casually.

“Lydia! For the love of God you almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry, I just wanted to see if you were free this afternoon? You mentioned that you wanted to study for Chem so I thought you could come over? Take advantage of a relatively calm night by Beacon Hills standards?”

“Sounds good, let’s go. You can leave your car here, I’ll drive us over to your place,” he suggested.

“Thanks, I’m definitely not up for finding myself at a random place again. I’m getting tired of finding dead bodies and clues and new monsters.”

Stiles took her hand, “Well that’s why I’m here. I will be your personal chauffer. Your wish is my command lovely dame.”

“And they say chivalry is dead!” she joked. So hand in hand, they made their way to the afterschool crowd and out to his Jeep.

***

After a long time of quizzing each other, reading passages aloud and going borderline crazy from all the chemistry they had been studying, Stiles spoke up:

“Lydia, do you realize how pathetic we are?”

“What are you talking Stiles?”

“We’re taking advantage of our night of calm to study for Chemistry. Shouldn’t we be getting drunk and dancing, or something? Isn’t that what normal teenagers do to celebrate?”

“Well I don’t know about you, but I do still plan on attending college. It may be wishful thinking but I was kind of hoping that this would all be over before we graduate, so that we can all go to college, get married, have kids. Live a normal life?” she speculated.

“Lydia, are you crying?” Stiles asked, noticing how her voice had started to break and her eyes started to brim with tears. 

“Hey, hey. Lydia. Look at me.” He said, as he put one hand to her cheek. “We’ll get there, okay? This will end eventually. We’ll get to graduate. You’ll deliver your valedictory speech and win your Fields Medal. You’re gonna have it all, Lydia. A handsome husband, a white picket fence, beautiful children running around your backyard. Trust me.”

It shouldn’t have sounded realistic but because Stiles said it, she believed it. She trusted him with all her being. 

“I think we’ve had enough Chem for one night, let’s just be regular teenagers for one night.” Stiles finished.

“I don’t even know what we’re supposed to do if we’re not fearing for our lives.” Lydia said sadly. “What do teenagers even do these days? I barely remember.”

“Throw parties, get wasted, make stupid decisions, complain,” Stiles listed.

“Well, I’m sure my parents have something hidden somewhere…” she said mischeviously. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

She went down to the kitchen and found a fresh bottle of vodka under the sink. “Perfect.” She said to herself. She was ready for a night of teenager fun.

“I come bearing gifts,” she smiled as she reentered the room.

“I’ve never tried vodka.” Stiles admitted nervously. “My dad’s the Sheriff, he would’ve locked me up for months”

“Oh my god.”

“Well now is as good a time as any,” he said, yanking a shot glass from her hand. “Let’s do this.”

“Wait. Before we do this, there’s something I want to try. But I want us both to remember it. And seeing as in about 5 minutes you’re gonna be gone, I have to do this now.” She said as she walked closer to him.

“Lydia-

Stiles was mildly freaking out because the next thing he knew, Lydia was kissing him. Lydia was kissing him. And he kissed her back like it was the most natural thing in the world. They might have been standing there for days, their lips pressed into each other, her hands in his hair, his hands holding the small of her back. 

Lydia had lots of experience kissing boys. But none of those experiences were like this. It wasn’t violent or lustful, it was loving and sweet and compassionate. In that moment, Lydia realized she had fallen in love with Stiles. And she knew she was loved back. They broke apart after an eternity. 

“What was that for?” Stiles asked breathlessly.

“I’m in love with you, Stiles.” She admitted.

“Do I even need to say it? I’ve loved you since forever. Always have, always will. But god, does it feel good to hear you say it. I could have waited forever for you. Lydia, you were worth ever awkward memory and every ignored day.”

She leaned into him, his arm wrapping around her. “You’re my best friend, I love you. I know we’ve said it before, meant in a platonic way but this is it, Stiles. This is the real deal. I’ve met my match.”

“So, how about that vodka?” he grinned.

“Now that the great love confessions are out of the way, let’s do it.”

It only took one shot for Stiles to completely lose it. That he was a lightweight was no surprise to her at all. Stiles was always so innocent. She didn’t let him get anymore or he would’ve been puking all over her freshly cleaned carpet.

After a good hour of drunk dancing and pillow fighting, Stiles was sprawled on Lydia’s bed. He hadn’t drank much and was finally getting a grip back on reality.

“So what now?” Lydia asked.

“Well… we could just make out.” Stiles suggested. Clearly the alcohol had made him uninhibited because she would have never heard those words come out of Stiles’ mouth. 

“Okay,” she answered, pushing Stiles into her bed, and placing her lips on his. “You better remember this in the morning.”

“Lydia, you’re Lydia, how could I EVER forget this?”


End file.
